.ts issues for Direct Stream?

[SHyde 7]

I have another thread dealing with a case where something Direct Stream'ed instead of Direct Play'ed.  The reason I realized something was amiss was because it was essentially unwatchable.

I came to Emby from Plex because (among a bunch of other things) they had made changes to the LG app that resulted in all of my recorded TV files being Direct Streamed instead of Direct Played.  Part of the reason they did this was the original recorded TV files didn't work right.  Plex and I independently traced this to the .ts container.  I noticed that if I changed the container to .mkv prior to trying playback, that fixed a lot of playback issues so I made a post processing script for DVR recordings to do that.  Plex decided to Direct Stream anything they thought might be recorded TV.

On this issue the other day, Direct Stream seemed to work ok as long as I had subtitles (SRTs) turned off.  With them on, playback because a stuttery mess.  Whether this was caused by exactly the same issues that plagued the Plex app or not, it seemed exactly the same behavior, and a commonality was Direct Stream + SRTs (though the Plex files were MPEG2 and this recent issue on Emby was H.264).

I noticed that Emby's Direct Stream ffmpeg command uses the .ts container for its output.  I don't know if there is any connection to my prior issues with the LG TV and .ts files, and these current issues or not.

I can try to collect some more data, but I figured I'd start the post and see if anyone else had noticed similar issues with Direct Stream + SRTs.

Thanks!

Edited January 11, 2021 by SHyde

[Luke 37009]

Hi there, yes can we please look at an example? thanks.

[SHyde 7]

1 minute ago, Luke said:

Hi there, yes can we please look at an example? thanks.

Definitely.  What would be helpful?  I could crop a short section from:

1. A recorded TV mpeg2 .ts file (luckily my script keeps them until I manually delete them every so often)
2. An .mkv of #1
3. An H.264 .mkv forced to direct stream (my other thread)

And note which played ok with and without subtitles (assume SRTs for everything).  Would you need the ffmpeg log from each attempt?

[Luke 37009]

Let's start with the specifics of a sample session:

Thanks.

[SHyde 7]

Well, I suppose I feel like a bit of a doofus.  I can't seem to recreate the problem.

My file from the other thread plays fine now (though I do feel better that I can get it to direct play by first selecting AC3 audio).

My mpeg2 ts files play just fine in Emby with SRTs enabled or not.

Sorry for wasting your time.

[Luke 37009]

Thanks for the feedback !